Target: Enoshima Junko.

Humans are completly composed of dreams.

Dreams of themselves, sometimes dreams of other peoples.

But for Koutarou, a person without dreams of his own is nothing but a corpse.

A corpse idealized by someone else.

A corpse that rolls its eyes.

A corpse that eats every day.

A breathing corpse.

A corpse that chooses clothes when leaving its house.

A corpse that takes a bus to go somewhere.

To do something.

To try to be someone.

A corpse created by someone else's dreams, who never knew what it's like to have their own dreams.

"What's your dream, Mukuro Ikusaba?"

Mukuro: "... What do you mean by that?"

In the public bath, which was one of the few places in the building without cameras, Koutarou and Mukuro faced each other while sitting on the bench. There was a small smile at the corner of Koutarou's lips, in contrast, Mukuro was completely expressionless, thinking that it was unnecessary to act now that her identity was revealed. She also didn't ask how Koutarou had recovered his "memories" so soon.

"Nothing else. I am sincerely asking you, what is your dream?"

Mukuro: "... My dream-"

"I'm asking about your dream, not Enoshima Junko's dream."

Koutarou's words silenced Mukuro for a while, until she opened her mouth to speak again.

Mukuro: "My dream has always been to stay by Junko's side, fulfill her wishes... Dreams must change as you grow up, right? Depending on where you are: kindergarten, primary school, elementary school, high school... But I've had the same dream since I was a kid, and that's been enough for me until now. Because of that, I never had to think so much about my dreams, and I thought Junko shared the same wish, but..."

"She abandoned you."

Koutarou's words mercilessly cut Mukuro once more, whose expression was already dark and heavy.

Mukuro: "I thought... She loved me too..."

"You are right. Enoshima Junko definitely loves you the most, you are probably the most important person to her."

Mukuro: "Then why..."

"Cuz' your definition of "love" is different from your sister's. Ikusaba Mukuro, your mistake was to look for warmth in someone infinitely cold."

Mukuro: "You say that like you know her better than I do..."

"Well, I don't know her completely, but I definitely know more about her than you do."

At Mukuro's skeptical expression, Koutarou just laughed lightly, which seemed to make her more annoyed as time went by.

"Ikusaba Mukuro, your definition of love must involve the despair that Enoshima Junko craves. The problem is that your ideal of "love-despair" involves being together until the end, even with the world in ruins, taken by the despair that Junko wants. Enoshima Junko, on the other hand, desires "ultimate despair", either causing that despair to someone or suffering from it, even being able to sacrifice those she loves to feel more desperate."

At some point, Mukuro was really listening attentively, as if she recognized that Koutarou's words were true, even though it left a sour taste in his throat.

"That's why she had the determination to sacrifice you, for her, the opportunity to feel the maximum "despair" is above the love she feels for you. This is also probably why she lets you go so easily, as if you start hating her and rebelling, it's going to be a form of despair too."

Mukuro lowered his head to his knees, contemplating Koutarou's words. Deep down, she knew it was true, but the thought that her sister's love for her was just an secondary was still hard to accept.

Mukuro: "For what I have lived until today...?"

"I know it's hard to accept this truth, I won't insist on convincing you. In fact, I want to propose something to you."

Mukuro: "... What?"

"Mukuro Ikusaba, do you still want to fulfill your sister's dream?"

Koutarou's suggestion brought Mukuro's attention almost immediately. She lifted her head to look him in the eyes for the first time since they started talking, there was doubt in her eyes, and yet a trace of desire, she obviously couldn't give up her feelings for her sister easily, despite Enoshima Junko's betrayal.

Mukuro: "... Keep talking."

Koutarou, who had caught Mukuro's attention at that moment, smiled slightly.

"Enoshima Junko will be killed by the person she loves the most... This must be a desperate enough situation to satisfy her, don't you think?"

Seconds of hesitation followed, but it wasn't long before the doubts in Mukuro's heart slowly turned into a firm resolution.

Mukuro: "... Tell me the plan."

[Twenty minutes later]

As much as just twenty minutes might seem insufficient to plan something of this level, the details of the plan for Enoshima Junko's death were still discussed at length with Mukuro Ikusaba, but they would undoubtedly fail if only the two of them acted.

Because of that, Koutarou took the initiative to gather all 14 remaining students, which made the public bathroom quite cramped with so many people inside. At this point, Mukuro had already removed the disguise that made her look almost like a carbon copy of the real Junko.

Of course, mentioning that the students were surprised was not necessary.

Owada: "Holy shit, who is this girl?!"

Kirigiri: "Koutarou-kun, I believe you have an adequate explanation for this situation."

Naegi: "This girl looks strangely familiar..."

"Calm down, guys. I know it might sound sudden, but let me introduce you: this is Ikusaba Mukuro, who you've known this whole time as... Enoshima Junko."

All: "!"

Celeste: "Koutarou-kun, if you pretended to play a trick on all of us, you should at least say something reasonable-"

"You guys can't say that there are no similarities between the two, can you? Just look closely, I'm not lying to you, especially in a momment as tense as we are currently in."

Naegi: "Come to think, I can actually see some resemblance between the two..."

As expected of Naegi Makoto. Even though he couldn't recognize Mukuro by appearance, as the Ultimate Hope, he had the trait of identifying the despair and hope potential of the people around him, even if he didn't know it yet. It was impossible that he couldn't identify Mukuro being so close.

"Anyway, I didn't gather you guys here just for that. The reason I called everyone here is to start the plan to assassinate the Mastermind... The person behind Monokuma!"

All: "!!"

Great, everyone was surprised again, and with Koutarou's words, tension started to climb up the spine of each and every student.

Kirigiri: "Koutarou-kun... I hope you have an idea of the weight of what you just said, and that if you drag us into this and fail... Everyone here will die."

"Calm down, Kirigiri-san... I'm fully aware of what I'm doing, which is why I've enlisted the help of Mukuro-chan here, who is the Mastermind's twin sister, whose identity is the real Enoshima Junko!"

All: "!!!"

Asahina: "Kajyashiki-san, if what you say is true... Doesn't that mean she was here as a spy?!"

Ohgami: "I don't know how much trust you have in this woman, but you better make sure she doesn't betray us, or if this is all a plan of her to put us at risk."

"You don't need to worry, Ohgami-san, Asahina-san. The whole plan was laid out by myself, and I'll be supervising Mukuro-chan here personally. You saw it with your own eyes, didn't you? She was abandoned by the Mastermind, and would have been killed if I hadn't interfered, I hope you can trust me a little this time, or we won't be able to escape this place anytime soon."

Koutarou insisted, trying to be as sincere as possible, even though his words had left Mukuro a little upset. Some of the students looked fearful, others looked convinced, and some were unreadable, like Kirigiri and Byakuya.

After some time, Kyoko Kirigiri, who until now had practically been a representative of all students for making certain decisions, finally answered.

Kirigiri: "*Sigh*, all right. At least let's hear you out first, tell us the plan, Koutarou-kun."

Koutarou nodded, relieved inside, he didn't consider himself one of the most charismatic person, so he had some doubts about try to convince someone like Kirigiri.

Time was short, so Koutarou cut the details and retold the plan with just the most important points, which involved the help of a few students.

"Chihiro-chan's help is going to be of vital importance here."

Chihiro: "M-me?"

Koutarou took a laptop out of one of the closets in the public restroom. He had secretly searched for this device which was hidden in the library the day before Sayaka Maizono's death, which took him some time, but managed to find him somehow.

"Do you think you can make this work? And will it be enough to stop the Mastermind system for at least a few minutes? No, seconds are enough."

Chihiro: "W-well... I can try, but it will take some time... And it would be better if I had access to the inner part of Monokuma..."

"That's easy, we'll buy you time. Byakuya-kun, Leon-kun and Ishimaru-kun will stay here to protect you along with the physically weaker students. Ohgami-san, Owada-kun and Fukawa-san will go with me to distract Enoshima Junko."

Fukawa: "I-I don't think I can do this..."

"Okay, let's go!"

Fukawa: "Don't ignore me, you bastard!"

Naegi: "Wait a minute, Koutarou-san! I know we not have much time, but don't you think it's too risky to put such a plan into practice when we still have a killer among us? Who knows if the person responsible for Maizono-san's death might end up joining Monokuma because he doesn't believe we'll make it succefully...?"

Hagakure: "*Sigh*, if I still had my crystal ball, I could try to see who killed Maizono-san..."

Ignoring Hagakure's sigh, Koutarou turned to Naegi, licking his lips lightly. He was in doubt whether or not to tell Naegi the truth, but decided against it, as it could put them both at risk if Makoto decided to do something reckless.

"You don't have to worry about that, Naegi-chan. I already know who Maizono-san's killer is, and I can assure you that he won't do anything."

Everyone looked particularly surprised by Koutarou's words, and Leon in the corner felt a shiver run down his spine, but luckily no one was looking at him at that time.

Naegi: "Koutarou-san, who-"

"I'll tell you who it was when we get out of here, Naegi-chan. For now, just stay here and help the others protect Chihiro-chan while we buy time. Can you do that?"

Naegi: "I... I can do it!"

"Well, then I'm counting with you. Mukuro-chan, you know what you have to do, right?"

Mukuro: "... Okay, I already understand."

Mukuro sighed lightly. All eyes were on her, but in that instant, all she could think about was how her sister would feel the moment the two faced each other.

Whatever it was, one of the two was going to die today.

If Ikusaba Mukuro died.

If Enoshima Junko died.

The feeling at that moment could only be described as...

Despair.